The Concept of Parent-Child Attachment - Literature review Example

The Concept of Attachment: Examining Parent-Child Relationship and the Role of Health Care Professionals Introduction The concept of parent and child attachment has been one of the most common topics being subjected to extensive research and studies in the field of psychology and health care over the years. Experts and authorities do so to distinguish a reliable source of knowledge and facts about the role of this relationship in child development as well as in the execution and fulfillment of a mother or a father’s parental function (Romer & Sossin, 1990; Moss, et al., 1998; Belsky & Rovine, 1988). This is considered a relevant step since information on this can assist specific authorities, especially the health workers, in providing aid to child bearing and rearing families in every possible aspect to promote the integrity of the basic unit of the community, the family as a whole, especially the children, while practicing their profession. According to research, children who grow up with less attachment with their parents, are neglected, or even abused tend to have negative attitudes toward self, others and life, in general. These suggest the considerable influence of the parents in the current and future conduct of their children (Serketich & Dumas, 1996). Several theorists (e.g., Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget, among others), in fact, proposed that proper development in children are attained if parents or their primary caregivers are able to realize their needs in specific stages. Meaning, they are able to keep their children “safe, secure, and protected” with the right mix of “disciplining, entertaining, and teaching” and which can only be achieved once proper or good attachment with the child is maintained (Benoit, 2004, p. 541). This relationship is best demonstrated in several studies showing the presence of behavioral, social competence, and self esteem conflicts in children as a result of the lack of the parent’s/s’ ability to build an efficient attachment behavior or “good relationship” (Waters, et al., 1994; Peterson & Zill, 1986, p. 295; Cohn, et al., 1992). Benoit (2004, p. 541) even further emphasized this relationship as she stated that attachment figure is “one of the most important in predicting the child’s later social and emotional outcome.” Despite these, many question the validity of the existing claims since, according to them, the experience of child bearing and rearing is “highly individualized” and complicated to create a common ground regarding the concepts surrounding parent and child attachment (Goulet, et al., 1998). Nevertheless, the government continues to use these researches as supporting evidences to public policies such as “Every Child Matters,” the “Healthy Child Programme,” as well as the NICE Postnatal Care Guidelines. These policies provide standard procedures for related agencies to implement interventions in the provision of health care and alike to prevent the theory of the Cycle of Deprivation and promote the overall health and well-being of every member of the family, especially the children, to help them reach their full potentials and maximize these for the benefit of the general public. This paper will examine five research studies which tackle the importance of parent and child attachment to provide an evidence-based practice in health care. Data Collection As a review of related literature, recent research studies on parent and child attachment were searched to complete the five articles that will be subjected for analysis and examine whether findings can aid in improving practice of health care providers that will pave way to having healthier families with children reaching their fullest potentials. Using the search engines PubMed and MedlinePlus, the articles by Haight, et al., (2003) and Benoit (2004) were chosen with the titles “Understanding and Supporting Parent -- Child Relationships During Foster Care Visits: Attachment Theory and Research” and “Infant-Parent Attachment: Definition, Types, Antecedent, Measurement and Outcome” respectively. These are in addition to the three available articles by Goulet, et al. (1998), Heaman, et al. (2006), and Vando, et al. (2008) which propose interventions that are deemed valuable in improving attachment relationships between parents, including foster parents, and their children. During the data base research using the key words parent and child attachment, parent and child relationship, children behavior and parenting styles, infant-parent attachment in the context of health care and social work, relevant information were gathered from a wide-range collection of works. Some of the literature focus on the parents’ roles alone while the others on its effects on the children’s emotional, psychological, social, and even physiological aspects (Tani, et al., 2010; Lenze, et al., 2010; Shelton & van den Bree, 2010; Stifter, et al., 2010). Others more also consider the factors that result to the parents and children’s inability to form a good attachment (e.g., financial hardship, absence of parents, poor marital relationship of parents, role of grandparents in child rearing, etc.) in particular stages of the children’s development (Wellard, 2010; McConnell, et al., 2010; Donahue, et al., 2010). Although it has been a difficult process to determine what articles should be chosen to achieve the purpose of analysis, it is believed that the selected articles will better assist the researcher(s) in distinguishing whether the findings of these studies are relevant in the policy making and guiding professionals in their practice to uphold public health by protecting the welfare of the family, especially the children, who are considered as the future of the nation. Research Analyses: The Relevance of Selected Research Articles in the Importance of Parent and Child Attachment to Policy Making and the Health Care Profession The selected articles entitled: “A Concept Analysis of Parent-Infant Attachment” (Goulet, et al., 1998); “Early Childhood Home Visiting Programme: Factors Contributing to Success” (Heaman, et al., 2005); “Examining the Link Between Infant Attachment and Child Conduct Problems in Grade 1” (Vando, et al., 2008); and the two which were indicated earlier will all be subjected to analysis to determine their validity and significance to the established knowledge about the importance of parent and child attachment and the concepts involved to help health care professionals formulate evidence-based practice in assisting the members of the families in promoting their welfare and benefit the community as a whole. Specifically, scrutiny will be exercised on identifying the applicability and reliability of the articles’ aim and objectives, their paradigms or approaches, their samples and sampling methods, how the researchers presented and analyzed the data and findings, and their implications to the practice of related health care professions. Aims and Objectives. Aims and objectives are the bases of a research article for what end they want to reach. While aims state the general or overall purpose of the study, objectives dictate the specific processes or steps that must be undertaken by the researchers to achieve the purpose. Researchers in all fields know that a research paper is efficient in its aims and objectives when it is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-related, or SMART (Moonie, 2005, pp. 149-150). Three of the five articles solely stated to focus on the concept of attachment between the parents and their children; two of which opted to cover as well as review other existing articles with subjects (children or parents) under normal conditions (Goulet, et al., 1998; Benoit, 2004) while Vando and colleagues’ (2008) work aims to assess the theory of attachment in the context of hostile parenting and maternal depression during the first year of life and its effect to a child’s conduct as he or she reaches the six years of age. The remaining two articles, on the other hand, consider the roles of health care providers (e.g., nurses, health visitors, and alike) in promoting attachment between children and parents in normal home settings (Heaman, et al., 2005), and in special situations such as foster care (Haight, et al., 2003). Research Approach. There are two main approaches that can be utilized in a research paper. Research papers can either follow an inductive or a deductive theoretical framework. Both of these designs or methodologies, used according to which is applicable to a specific scenario, allow researchers to achieve the primary purposes of their papers. In Berg and Latin (2008, p. 9), an inductive approach of presenting and analyzing the data is referred to as “making a conclusion or generalization based on a limited number of observations.” Deductive reasoning or approach, they stated, on the other hand, does otherwise. This means that the researchers identify the relevant specific observations that make up or help explain an existing fact or information. In a presentation, Burney (2008) explained that while inductive approach follows an “observation-pattern-tentative hypothesis-theory” pattern, a deductive framework confirms a theory by testing and observing the hypotheses presented. Still, either of these will be held relevant without proper recognition and analysis of the premises involved. With these in mind, it is believed that the researches conducted by Vando, et al. (2008), Goulet and colleagues (1998), as well as Haight and his associates (2003) used an inductive theoretical framework to arrive at the conclusions they have reached. Heaman and his co-workers (2005) and Benoit (2004), on the contrary, employed a deductive approach. The three inductive studies, obviously, conducted studies involving samples that were observed to determine patterns upon which conditions and what factors or aspects do the attachment status between parents and their children is promoted or hindered. Heaman, et al. (2005) and Benoit’s (2004) work, oppositely, recognized that the successes of a home visiting program in promoting attachment between parents and children, and infant-parent attachment itself, lie in the efficient determination of the specific factors that affect them, respectively. For example, Heaman, et al. (2005) concluded that home visiting programmes that will be conducted by public health nurses and home visitors are aided with a "strength-based philosophy, voluntary enrolment of parents, regularly scheduled home visits, a curriculum to structure the home visitor's interventions," among others, while Benoit (2004) specified in his article the circumstances (e.g., its definition, type, antecedents, etc.) that affect attachment theory and all the other aspects involved. Samples and Sampling Method. The presence of samples and sampling method in a research depends on its type. Some research papers, such as those that are formulated as a review of existing related literature, draw conclusions from the results of other researches (e.g., Benoit, Vando, et al., Goulet, et al., and Haight and associates’). Yet, others’ work, such as Heaman and his colleagues’, with specific numbers and groups of people to support (and eventually, improve existing knowledge) or renounce hypotheses, theories, or previous findings of related studies. Heaman collaborated with co-workers (2005, p. 293) as they used purposive sampling in coming up with the 58 participants of their study. According to them, the sampling method utilized have “ensured sufficient data to reveal any existing differences in programme implementation and contextual factors which might have affected perceptions of study participants.” They, too, distinguished a number of inclusion criteria for these participants. While the four studies that review the works of others benefit from the fact that they cover a wider-range of population in presenting the concept of parent-child attachment in several situations, the weakness of these kinds of researchers is its possible failure to recognize flaws in the processes of the studies that they have accessed the data from, putting the whole paper at risk for becoming void and invalid. Nevertheless, works like Heaman and colleagues’ also have a fallback; that is, they cannot represent data about the importance of attachment in parents and children and the roles of health care professionals of a larger population. Hence, the generalization of findings can be applied only in the study samples and bear the risk of alteration if other subjects are put to test. The differences of inclusion or exclusion criteria also play a role. Data Analyses and Implications. How the data is analyzed is dependent on the design and the purpose of researches. The design can either be qualitative or quantitative which aid in achieving a research’s aims and objective. This dictates the quality of the data and the research paper itself. The review articles, those which based their findings from the data of other existing literature, in this group of researches put into analysis use different standards to formulate reliable conclusions. Some subjected the reviewed articles, books, and theses on the concept of attachment using chosen techniques of analysis (e.g., Wilson's method of analysis) (Goulet, et al.); proposed laboratory procedures that have been identified as useful determinants of attachment and attachment styles (Strange Situation) between children and their biological or even foster parents as well as the roles of the health care professionals in promoting this relationship in under usual and special situations (Vando, et al., 2008; Benoit, 2004; Haight, et al., 2003). The process of data analysis in Heaman and colleagues’ work, although involved a qualitative process, nonetheless proceeded and ended up with a reliable data that are qualitative in nature. Despite the essential differences in the category of research designs, samples, and in circumstances, it is inarguable that even though only one or two of them tackled the roles of health care professionals in assisting the development of attachment between the parents and their children, the findings acquired from these researches contribute to how these roles can be assisted or improved to benefit not only the family (parents and children) who are under certain conditions (e.g., maternal depression, hostile parenting, foster care, etc.) but the community as a whole. Aside from the weaknesses identified in each area as discussed earlier, it is positive that reliability or validity of these information are not at risk since no observed biases are determined. In fact, as the researchers provide conclusions about the data gathered, they pointed out in their articles areas of concerns that require further study or suggestions on what parents or professionals (in teaching parents) must do in specific events of caring for children considering the concept of attachment. On the other hand, findings of these researches also provide health care professionals evidence-based information on the importance of their role, how they can improve them (e.g., sufficient education, in-service training, and on-going supervision, as well as the importance of using concept analysis) and what information must be known to educate parents and intervene during visits in promoting reputable quality of attachment between children and their parents, both biological and foster. Finally, these articles also supply knowledge about the factors (social, cultural, maternal health, and parenting styles) that will affect how parents and children form good relationship with each other, and which health care professionals should also consider. All the same, it is suggested to not focus on one but instead many factors involved in developing such. Conclusion Undoubtedly, despite the identified weaknesses of some processes utilized by the researchers of the studies involved in this analytical paper, the data and information that can be acquired from them are a reliable source to improve the practice of health care professionals in their roles of promoting parent and child attachment in both health care interventions and education. Public health nurses, home visitors, and social workers, then, should proceed to creating schedules for early contact to identify areas of concern and facilitate good quality attachment between parents and their children by applying the information gathered in these researches and other reliable sources of knowledge, since evidence suggest not only the negative effects of its absence (e.g., conduct problems in children) but most importantly, its benefits to maintaining the welfare of both children and parents which will eventually to the promotion of overall public health and well being. References Belsky, J. & Rovine, M.J., 1988. Nonmaternal care in the first year of life and the security of infant-parent attachment. Child Development, February, 59 (1), pp. 157-167. Benoit, D., 2004. Infant-parent attachment: Definition, types, antecedents, measurement and outcome. Paediatric Child Health, October, 9 (8), pp. 541-545. Berg, K.E. & Latin, R.W., 2008. 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